A biased look at psychology in the world

January 28, 2013

Do Animals Have Insight?

Have you ever tried to solve the nine-dot problem?
Basically, it involves nine dots arranged in a 3 x 3 square matrix
which you are told to join using four consecutive straight lines without
lifting the pencil from the paper. Most people trying to solve the
problem waste time drawing four lines within the square. Solving the
problem means having that “aha!” moment and realizing that you need to
think “outside the box” by extending the lines beyond the square to allow all nine dots to be joined.

The “aha” moment can appear suddenly, followed a subjective exclamation of surprise and delight (think “Eureka!”).

The
moment can come after repeated failures which provide no apparent help
in solving the problem. In many cases, the failures allow people to
“home in” on the correct answer which is when the “aha” moment finally
happens.

The “aha” moment comes after the problem is completely restructured making a new approach possible.

Though
studying human insight is relatively straightforward since human
subjects can provide verbal feedback about how their thought processes
work, what can researchers learn about how animals solve problems? Are
animals capable of having “aha” moments as well? And how could we even
tell?